Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 279
279 be avoided. It sheds light on the sources of good and evil and teaches man to clean out the source of evil. It treats of repentance and explains what true repentance means. It enumerates the benefits to be derived from repentance, explains the requisites of true repentance and when repentance may be resorted to. It also explains the principles upon which rewards and penalties are based and the factors to which regard is had in adjudging them. It explains the relationship between transgression and punishment and how they ought to be adjusted to each other. The Quranic Conception of Salvation The Quran explains what salvation is and how it is attained. It teaches that salvation is of three kinds: (1) Perfect; (2) Imperfect; and (3) Deferred. Perfect salvation is attained in this very life. A person who attains imperfect salvation in this life gradually perfects the means of attaining salvation after death. Deferred salvation is attained only after suffering for a period the punishment of Hell. The teachings of Christianity and Islam with respect to this last kind of salvation have one feature of resemblance but are at variance with each other in a fundamental respect. Christianity teaches that even this kind of salvation can be achieved only by those who believe firmly in the doctrines of Christianity but who may have failed to attain perfect salvation in this life. These are the people who, after passing for a period through the torments of Hell, would attain perfect salvation. Islam, on the other hand, teaches that every human being has been created with the purpose that he or she will ultimately attain perfect salvation. The most rabid disbeliever and wrongdoer after being subjected to certain kinds of reformatory treatment, one of which is the torment of Hell, would ultimately attain salvation and would enter Paradise. In this connection the Quran emphasises the doctrine of weighing and balancing of actions. It teaches that the preponderance of good actions in a man’s life is proof of sincere effort on his part to attain salvation and that a person who dies while making a sincere effort to attain an object is like a soldier who is killed before victory is achieved. Death is controlled entirely by God. A soldier on the field of battle has no power to postpone it till after victory is achieved. In the same way a person who is struggling sincerely to attain salvation has no power to postpone death till his struggle ends in victory. If such a person dies in the middle of this struggle, he becomes deserving of the Grace and Mercy of God and not of His wrath and punishment. No nation has ever condemned its warriors for being killed before victory was achieved. Every soldier who sincerely strives for victory is honoured. The same is the case with a person who strives to overcome Satan and, in spite of ups and downs, continues to sustain the struggle steadfastly and with courage till the end so that God’s Kingdom may be established. According to the Quran such a person is certainly deserving of salvation. His weakness is not a blemish but an ornament, for he was not thereby deterred from